I like quirky museums. I’ve written about the Cork Butter Museum and now, my friends, I shall move onto the Flying Boat Museum in Foynes, Co. Limerick.

I’ve actually been to Foynes a few times because my father-in-law docks his boat there, the Gadaí Rua. The last time I was in the area I stumbled upon the Foynes Flying Boat Museum with my brother-in-law, Andrew. We decided to go into the museum and what we found was a pretty cool exhibition about Foynes’ role in aviation history and a replica of a flying boat. A flying boat, by the way, is an aircraft designed to take off from and land on water.

Believe it or not the small town of Foynes was the center of the aviation world from 1939 to 1945. Foynes was the location where the first commercial passenger flight on a direct route from the USA to Europe landed on the 9th of July 1939. Following this event, flights regularly took off and landed in Foynes.

The replica of the Boeing 314 flying boat is what sticks out in my mind most after my trip to the museum. Visitors actually have the opportunity to step aboard the replica (none of the real 314 air crafts remain intact today) and see what it was like to fly during the 1940s. It’s very interesting to see everything from the large steering wheels that guided the plane to the spacious passenger cabins and roomy seats. The inside really looks almost like a train and not at all like a plane. (Click here to see some really cool images on the museum’s website of the replica.)

Here are a few fun facts I found about Foynes on the Flying Boat Museums website that all occurred in 1942:

♧ Eleanor Roosevelt arrived in Foynes under the alias “Mrs. Smith”.

♧ Captain Charlie Blair, later to become the husband of the actress Maureen O’Hara, made the first non-stop passenger flight from Foynes to New York in 25 hours, 40 minutes.

♧ Chef Joe Sheridan poured the first ever cup of Irish Coffee for passengers awaiting their flight.

What I’ve mentioned in this blog about the flying boats and Foynes is just the tip of the iceberg. A trip to the museum is definitely worth it. If you can’t make your way to Limerick, the museum’s website is full of really interesting history and you can even take a virtual tour of the museum.

The museum is open year round. Click here for visitor information.

Source; Source; Source; Foynes Image Source; Boat Image Source

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